Spite
by ScarletEmpress2017
Summary: When someone discovers the ruse of Kaldur's betrayal, Nightwing becomes embroiled in his own personal web of hate.
1. What they don't know

She sat and stared at the waves, dark clouds rolling in her mind. It had just been a game. At least, that's how it started. Nightwing had tasked her with improving her stealth technique. And naturally, she took it as a challenge to practice on _him_. She borrowed a few audio recorders from Batgirl and tagged Nightwing when he wasn't looking. He never noticed and she always got it back before she went home.

It was funny, listening to what he did when he was alone. He hummed, he butchered the English language; sometimes he even sang! But then came the day he slipped away through the Zeta… And he didn't head to Blüdhaven. She expected something small, maybe a girl from across the country. What she didn't expect was to hear Kaldur's voice on the recording.

It was deep, and should've been calming; but the sound alone brought her to tears. She immediately stopped and erased the recording, not thinking much of it. A chance encounter was all she chalked it up to. But when it happened again almost four weeks later, her suspicions arose. She took a tracker from inventory and trailed him when he went off. All the way to a rundown villa in Key Biscayne, Miami. She stared in twisted fascination when Kaldur appeared, clad in black armor, and watched as Nightwing slipped in from the shadows.

Their exchange was coded, and she could gather little, but she had just managed to piece some of it together when someone new stepped onto the scene. They had black hair, and their voice was far too rough; but no matter how different they appeared, there was no hiding that familiar life force. A life force that wasn't supposed to exist anymore.

And that had been almost two weeks ago.

So now, there she sat staring out at the waves that were once part of her home. The sea that no longer gave her comfort.

"'Mirah, I'm here. Wha'dya want?"

Zemirah said nothing. She continued to gaze out at the waves before standing. She turned her gaze on him, blankness in her features.

"I know."

"What?"

She said nothing but took out a familiar device and let him hear the playback. Kaldur, Artemis, and his own incriminating voice played in crystal clarity. He stared, wide-eyed, as she glared down at his confession. As soon as it ended she crushed it and tossed it into the water. She turned back to him and glowered. Had he been a weaker man he would've cowered.

"So you know."

She said nothing, but kept her firey gaze on him before she left. He sighed in relief as soon as she was gone. He turned to leave as quietly thought his dilemma over.

With any luck she'd calm down in a week.


	2. Won't hurt them

She did not calm down in a week.

If anything, she got worse. Whenever he attempted to speak to her, she pretended he wasn't there. She glared at him anytime they came into contact outside of missions and briefings. She even hit harder during sparring sessions and training.

Somehow, no one seemed to notice.

By the end of the second week, she had toned it down and he deemed it safe enough to slip away. This time, he made triple sure that he wasn't followed. When finally saw Kaldur, it was both calming and nerve-wracking.

"Perimeter is secure."

 _I'm sure of it this time._

"Then we may speak freely."

"How are things on your end?"

"All is well, my father and the others suspect nothing. And you?"

"…She knows."

For the first time in a very long time, Kaldur looked concerned.

"How?"

"She decided that _I_ was a perfect subject for her espionage skills. She was at one of our meetings, and recorded us. She showed me a while back."

"What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything so much as she just looked at me funny."

"And what did she do when she told you."

"Like I said, she glared at me and walked away."

"And that is all she did?"

"Yes, I've never seen her look at _anyone_ like that."

Kaldur features changed from concerned to slightly panicked.

"Then I am afraid you are in danger."

"Danger? Danger of what?"

" _Her_."

"Are we talking about the same person?"

"Believe me when I tell you that you do not know her as I do. Now listen to me very carefully. You must avoid her at all costs. You should not speak to her without being directly spoken to unless strictly necessary. And above all do _not_ eat anything she prepares for you."

"I'm sorry, _what_? Are we talking about the same person? 'Cause I'm talking about the girl who wouldn't kill a spider for anything in the world, no matter how much she hates it."

"Then you do not believe me, I take it?"

"Not at all."

"Very well. As they say, 'It is your funeral', my friend."


	3. But if I'm not careful

Nightwing chose to ignore Kaldur's warnings.

Zemirah was a very passionate, but very sweet person. Was she angry? Clearly. However, he was certain she would never go so far as to _poison_ him. Over the next week, she seemed to calm down a lot more. She'd stopped glaring at him, but she still ignored him like he was an invisible mute. Still, it was far better than what the double agent had… Implied. Then came the day he walked into the rec room to find Chokichi throwing up into the trash; with Caroline rubbing circles on his back, and Zemirah scrambling to get a glass of water.

"What in the nine did you ingest?" The reaper girl asked.

"All I ate were the cookies."

"Which cookies?" asked Zemirah who then suddenly giggled. "I just realized we keep a lot of sugar here."

"The cookies on the counter."

The other three in the room looked over to the counter to find several empty platters devoid of cookies, but very prettily decorated in crumbs. The reaper spun and glared at the angel.

"Just how many did you eat?"

"…All of them?" He tried.

"No wonder you're sick!" Zemirah snapped. "M'gann and I were baking all morning; between the two of us we must've made six... _dozen_ cookies. At least."

Caroline went from mildly annoyed to straight up livid in under a second.

"Alright then Mr. Sugar-is-my-Drug, you and I are taking a trip to get your stomach pumped. AND I'm restricting your sugar intake for the next three weeks. The whole _League_ is going to back me up on this."

"But they were so _good_ ," Chokichi protested weakly.

"Of course they were good," Zemirah explained. "They were my special chocolate chip. But that's not the point."

"I don't give a flying **** _how_ good they were! You keep eating that much sugar you're going to put yourself into a sugar coma!"

With that the reaper dragged the angel to the Mad-Bay, Zemirah trailing behind them. Nightwing didn't think much of it. It wasn't until three days later that he began to worry. He'd just walked into the rec room again to find Bankori sprawled out on the couch. Zemirah was attending to him; putting a cold compress to his head, with Caroline hovering nearby.

"What happened?" Nightwing asked.

"Don't know," Caroline answered. "We came in and he was just lying here."

"I feel terrible…" Bankori moaned.

"I know Angel One, I know," Zemirah soothed, gently petting his head. "Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere."

"Be more specific," Caroline groused.

"…My stomach mostly."

"Well, what did you eat?" the reaper snapped.

"The chicken stew."

"The one on the stove?" Zemirah asked looking into the kitchen.

"Yeah there was a bowl on the counter so I helped myself."

"Anything else?"

"Uh… My brother shoved some of his stupid sweets down my throat. Drank some milk to wash out the taste."

At this point, Zemirah was rifling through the kitchen. She tasted the stew herself before rooting through the fridge. She took out the milk jug and twisted off the cap before giving it a sniff. She grimaced at the smell and slapped the cap back on.

"Che! No wonder you're so sick!" she yelled, checking the expiration date. "This stuff must've expired two weeks ago!"

"It's Connor's turn to buy groceries and he always forgets the milk," Caroline reasoned.

Zemirah dumped the milk into the trash and headed for the Med Bay. She turned back and called the others.

"Carolie, grab Blondie."

The reaper helped Bankori to his feet and half-dragged after her.

Nightwing said nothing but moved to make some coffee. As he scuttled through the kitchen, he couldn't help but look down in the trash bin. He caught a glimpse of the expiry date and his blood ran cold.

It didn't expire until next week.


	4. It might hurt me

Despite what others thought, Nightwing was not as paranoid as his mentor. He was cautious, perhaps; but never paranoid. No, he was far more trusting and patient. Normally.

These were not normal circumstances.

He ate nothing in the Cave anymore. Anything _did_ eat he brought from home and he never left it unattended for more than a minute. He had to be extremely careful not to let anyone notice his break of habit. It was significantly easier since Batman checked in on them a lot less. But that still left Batgirl and Robin. Batgirl was likely to be more trouble if she noticed, she would relentlessly ask why until he gave in. Not to mention it was nearly impossible to lie to her. It was a miracle their ploy had even gotten this far! There was no way he was going to let his own caution give away the others' positions.

"Why don't you eat when we're here?"

Damn.

The elder Bat turned away from the Cave's computer screens to face his younger brother. Robin was looking at him. And not just looking at him, oh no. He was giving Nightwing the _'I-know-something-is-wrong-now-you-had-better-tell-me-before-I-tell-Batman'_ look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You haven't eaten anything in four days."

"Robin, of course I have."

Robin's countenance switched to _an 'Are-you-seriously-lying-to-me-right-now?'_

"Robin, I've eaten. Just not here, okay?"

The younger hero heard the minute change in tone and got the hint and left without another word. As his little brother left, he thought over his predicament. If Robin noticed something was off, it wouldn't be long before Batgirl noticed too. And if that happened…

He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by sudden loud footsteps. He whirled around to find Zemirah walking in, a tray in hand.

"You haven't eaten anything for the day yet," she explained without start. "Personally, I'm content to let you starve yourself; but M'gann insisted I bring you this."

With that she shoved the tray into his hands. He looked down at the contents with no visible concern, but inside he was an absolute mess. It was a sandwich and some fruit along with a glass of water; but who knew what she had done to it? For all he knew, the food could've been laced with cyanide or something. Should he ask who made it? Before he could try he looked up to find Zemirah leaning on a wall.

"What are you doing?"

"M'gann told me to give you food, but Caroline said to make sure you eat it."

Great. That was just great. If he didn't eat it, Caroline would kill him. If he did, he was likely to be poisoned.

Wonderful.

"What is it?"

"It's a tuna sandwich."

"Do I have to?"

"I'n gon' save ya' backside from Caroline if you don't."

With no choice and a silent prayer to whoever was listening, he took the sandwich and bit into it. He avoided looking Zemirah in the eye as he chewed. The texture was normal, but the flavor was a little… Off. He swallowed, holding back a grimace.

"Can't you just tell Caroline that I ate?" he asked.

"I'm not _lying_ to my best friend for _you_ ," she said with a glower.

Alright, bad idea on his part.

He continued with the sandwich and said nothing when he finished. He only downed the glass of water before giving back the tray.

"How was it," Zemirah asked numbly.

"Good," he lied.

"Good," she said with a small smile before turning away. "Glad to know you enjoy my cooking."

 _Oh, boy._


	5. So, take a moment

"Why are we here?"

"I thought you might like it."

Nightwing and Bloom Blaster, or rather their civilian personas were now in her home country. At the movies of all places.

"And I repeat: _why_ am I here?"

"C'mon, it'll be fun."

The bat was trying to get back in her good graces. She enjoyed spending time with him once upon time, maybe this was the cue to start being human again and try it. Zemirah waltzed to the escalator, fully ignoring him. They bought tickets, well, Dick bought the tickets. And the snacks. In the movie theatre the girl sat and stared at the screen not sparing him a single glance. He made a few jokes concerning the characters and even managed to coax out the tiniest of smiles. But almost as soon as it came it was gone and she was watching the screen almost disinterestedly. Afterwards he bought her ice cream. If she appreciated any of it, she didn't make herself known. They bought Abu-Ghazi for an early dinner and ate in complete silence.

"Do you want to go anywhere else?"

She only looked up at him, before turning her attention back to her kapsalon. That was the most she'd looked at him all day. Whenever she spoke to him, if she spoke to him, she looked at a wall, a poster, anything else she found interesting. It gave him some hope.

"Are you sure you don't want to go anywhere else?"

Zemirah looked over to the parking lot, seemingly contemplating. When she finally spoke, she didn't look away.

"Monop'."

So the two of them drove all the way from Simpson Bay, to Marigot. On the other side of the island. At this point, Dick was just relieved that the island wasn't any bigger. It might've taken them forever otherwise. She grabbed a basket and began shopping around. Pulling in two bottles of juice and packs of biscuits along with several kinds of chocolate. She pulled over to the cashier and picked up several other sachets of… Well the bat certainly didn't know. This was her turf and he sure as hell did not want to irritate her by asking questions. They left the sore with him carrying her things.

"Home."

And so home they went. Zemirah moved to get out of the car, taking her things and leaving without a word. He wanted to pretend that this whole ordeal helped some; really, he did. But by the way she slammed the door when he said good night warned him that he'd gotten nowhere.

The very next day it was like he was back to square one.

Once again, she pretended that he didn't exist, save for missions. She glared at him like he was the devil incarnate and hit so hard in sparring he actually bruised.

Clearly, he'd made the problem worse.

.-.

A/N: 1. Zemirah's home country is St. Maarten/St. Martin, specifically Dutch St. Maarten; for those of you who haven't checked my profile.

2\. _Abu-Ghazi_ is a shwarma place in St. Maarten that also serves kapsalon.

3\. Kapsalon is a Dutch dish

4\. Monop' is short for _Monoprix_ , a French retail chain with locations both in France and French St. Martin.

5\. _**Please leave a review!**_


	6. And think of just

"Why in the name of all things holy are we here _Richard_?"

The two of them had come to the beach where it all started. At _Le Gallion_ , far away from people. Dick was not expecting that. She had never, ever called him by his full first name. Not once in their lives. Now she said like she wanted him dead… He was almost shocked out of his explanation.

"I brought you here so I could ask you why you're acting this way."

"Acting what way?"

"You've been looking at me like I kicked your dog, you ignore me when I try to talk to you; heck, you've even tried poisoning me!"

"When have I ever-"

"That time with Bankori and the soup! Don't even try to deny it!"

"…Fine. I laced the bowl he used with painkillers… Admittedly my more violent attempt."

"Wait, so… That time with the cookies? You…?"

"I replaced half the vanilla in one batch of cookies with ipecac. I'm surprised he didn't bring up his stomach by the time we found him."

"And the sandwich?"

"Oh, I'm kinda mad that's the only one that worked. Don't worry, I just mixed some… Actually, _most_ of the tuna with wet cat food."

" _You fed me cat food?_ "

"You don't expect it? After what you did? You'd be _completely_ stupid in that case."

"What did I do? _Why are you so mad at me?_ "

"What did you do? What did you do? Lemme ****in' tell you what you did!"

Her cursing stunned him into complete silence.

"You _lied to us_. You ****ing _lied_ to us! We all trust you and you lied to us! And the part that hurts most is that you didn't trust any of us to be in on it! I mean, really? We've fought by your side for years, we spend countless hours together not just in battle but as a family. _A family_. And you lied to all of us. You let us believe that someone we trust more than anything betrayed us, wanted to hurt us… You ****ing let me think that the love of my life was a lie."

Dick looked down, unable to keep looking her in the eyes.

"If you thought I was mad you, you're wrong. I'm not just mad at you. I _hate_ you. More than anything else I _loathe_ you. Every time I see you, you just remind me of how much you've hurt me and the worst part is… I loved you so, _so_ much."

Dick was shocked at the revalation.

"You were like my brother. And I would've laid down my life for you if that's what it took to keep you safe. I trusted you with mine. My. _Life_. Now though… Now I wouldn't trust you with _anything_."

At this point Zemirah was in tears.

"You lied to us, made us hate our own friends. I just can't believe you."

Zemirah turned to go, too tired to continue. Before she could leave, Dick grabbed her arm, keeping her still.

"For what it's worth… I'm sorry."

"… Just tell me he knows she's not dead…"

"He does."

"Go away. Don't come back here again.

"I won't."


	7. Flexibility, Love, and Trust

He couldn't believe he was doing this.

"Dude, what are you doing here?"

Dick couldn't bring himself to look the red-head in the eye. He stood there for an awkward moment before the speedster relented.

"C'mon, get in."

Wally leaned on the wall as he watched his old friend sit ─ slump down on the couch. He hadn't seen him look like that in _years_.

"What happened?"

Dick looked up, blue eyes awake but despondent. He quirked his lips and looked pained but said nothing.

"C'mon. Talk to me. I haven't seen you look like that since the training accident six years ago."

"…Zemirah hates me."

"…I can't say I'm surprised."

"I'm not either… I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Not like this."

"The way this plan goes, that's inevitable. You know it; I know it. I _still_ don't understand why you didn't let her in on it in the first place."

"She'd have had to close herself from the others; I didn't want her to do that."

"And forcing her to believe that the one person she loved more than anything else in this world was a better idea?" Wally said. "We went to visit her a few days after Kal 'went rogue'. She looked like a zombie. All the life had been taken from her and she refused to talk. We tried everything to try to get her out of her funk, even for just a minute. Nothing helped."

"What did you try?"

Wally didn't really want to answer. He knew that his answers would only serve to make him beat himself up more. But he would only prolong Dick's suffering if he withheld an answer.

"Movies, stuffed animals, music, we even tried _singing_."

Zemirah _loved_ to hear them sing.

"I messed up. I messed up big time."

"Well, they're getting closer. With any luck, it'll be over soon, right?"

"Right."

He still felt like a failure.


End file.
